ANC Party Leader Musalia Mudavadi and his Wiper counterpart Kalonzo Musyoka have scoffed at the attempt by ODM Leader Raila Odinga to reach a pre-election alliance with President Uhuru’s Jubilee Party.
The two have ruled out the possibility of working with ODM again - even after Uhuru encouraged opposition leaders to reunite and jointly take on Deputy President William Samoei Ruto in the 2022 elections.
In remarks that came hot on the heels of Uhuru's declaration that he would pick his 2022 successor from among the NASA principals Raila, Kalonzo, Mudavadi, and Ford Kenya's Moses Wetang'ula - the duo wished Jubilee and ODM well in their plans.
Speaking in Murang'a during a church service at Mary Ithanga Catholic Church, the former Vice President said he would not back down in his stand on not working with the ODM leader in 2022.
"We have a cooperation agreement between the Jubilee Party leader who is Uhuru Kenyatta and I am the Wiper party leader. I cannot go back [to working with Raila]," Kalonzo said.
While speaking to the Star on Sunday, the Wiper and ANC leaders opined that the Jubilee-ODM coalition was dead on arrival and dismissed calls to join the formation.
It should be noted that ANC, Wiper, Ford Kenya, and Kanu are working to strengthen their One Kenya Alliance even as Ruto declared he was ready to face the Jubilee-ODM alliance.
Borabu MP Ben Momanyi told a local daily that Wiper was not worried about the Uhuru-Raila 2022 pact, saying the Kalonzo-led party was not vulnerable enough to join the two handshake partners.
Momanyi noted that both Uhuru and Raila should prepare for a humiliating 2022 defeat if they continued chest-thumping and ignoring the One Kenya Alliance.
The Borabu lawmaker intimated it was time Raila reciprocated the support that he had been accorded by the other Nasa principals.
Speaking for ANC, deputy party leader Ayub Savula affirmed that they were not worried about Jubilee and ODM crafting an alliance ahead of 2022.
“Jubilee is just managing Raila because the truth is, Raila is a hard sell in Mt Kenya region. That is a fact,” the Lugari MP said.
He added that reports of Jubilee working on an alliance arrangement with ODM could be a ploy by the government side to manage the former prime minister in order to run the country effectively.
“We have been telling our party leader Musalia Mudavadi to remain in Opposition. We have urged him to criticize the government constructively while respecting the President. We want Mudavadi to have a working alliance with the President."
Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke, political pundit Barack Muluka advised that it would be wise for Mudavadi and Musyoka not to trust the words of Uhuru and Raila who he described as "political conmen".
He pointed out several instances when both Uhuru and Raila failed to honour their word. The first instance was in the case of Uhuru backing away from his word was when in 2013, following his agreement to support Mudavadi, he claimed it was 'mademoni" that had forced his hand and made him make the deal.
Yet another incident came after Kalonzo engaged in shuttle diplomacy on behalf of the president and his deputy when they faced criminal cases in the ICC. After he successfully garnered support for the two, Uhuru backed away from his promise to support the former VP.
With regard to Raila Odinga, the cases of his reneging on his word go as far back as 1997 when he failed to endorse Kenneth Matiba for the presidency after guaranteeing him that he would. Then in 2002, after promising then Ford People presidential candidate Simeon Nyachae the same, he wavered and instead offered eventual electoral winner, Mwai Kibaki his support.
Muluka further highlighted that after stating that he would not vie for office again after the 2017 elections and instead support Kalonzo, the former premier once more reneged on his word and seemed set to vie for the presidency
